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Paradoria
This article is about the film. For the franchise, see Paradoria (franchise). Paradoria is a 2015 American 3D computer-animated adventure comedy-drama film produced by Gingo Animation for Universal Pictures. It was directed by Steve Samono and Gary Hall from a screenplay by Samono, John Hamburg and Laurie Craig from an original idea by Samono and Michael Wildshill. The fourteenth feature film from Gingo, the film stars the voices of Finn Wolfhard, AnnaSophia Robb, Rob Riggle, Bryan Cranston, Jenny Slate, Maya Rudolph, Patrick Stewart, Wendie Malick, Cheech Marin, and Tommy Chong. Set in a fictional world known as Paradoria, the film centers on a relationship between a young cap-wearing boy and an unlikely princess who aspire to see the outside world. However, their home is attacked by ferocious human-eating monsters, who pursue them to a far away land; the couple now must find a way back home and stop the monsters from destroying Paradoria. Samono and Wildshill conceived the original concepts of the film in 2008, citing the video games Ico (2001) and Another World (1991) as inspirations. Wildshill originally directed the film with Samono until May 2013, leaving Samono as the film's sole director. The title of the film (as well as its main setting) is named after a genus of tachinid flies in the family Tachinidae. Some of the Gingo staff visited the Mediterranean Sea, Taghit, the Kananaskis Range, and southern Montana for inspiration. Paradoria was the first Gingo film to use the studio's new animation technology to produce its animated visuals and lighting. Paradoria premiered at the Brussels Animation Film Festival in Belgium on February 23, 2015, and was released in the United States on March 6, 2015. It received acclaim from critics and audiences for its concept, musical score, direction, and the vocal performances, particularly of Wolfhard and Robb; some film critics also consider Paradoria to be the best Gingo film since Computeropolis (2004). The film grossed over $717 million worldwide on a budget of $103 million, becoming the eighth highest-grossing film of 2015, the 25th highest-grossing animated film of all time, and the sixth highest-grossing film from Gingo Animation. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Disney/Pixar's Inside Out. The film's success has since helped spawn an expanded franchise, including a television series on Netflix, a television special on NBC and a sequel scheduled for release in 2019. Plot Coming soon! Voice cast *Finn Wolfhard as Jamo, a kind but anxious 13-year-old boy. *AnnaSophia Robb as Princess Keena, the daughter of Queen Melly and King Clint. *Rob Riggle as King Kakas, a gillman-like creature who plots to eat Paradorians. *Bryan Cranston as Noalus, Jamo's father. *Jenny Slate as Verra, Jamo's mother. *Maya Rudolph as Queen Melly, Kenna's mother. *Patrick Stewart as King Clint, Kenna's father. *Wendie Malick as Maggie, a caretaker for the Paradorian children. *Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong as Vinnie and Winnie, Kaka's two dim-witted henchmen. *Chris Parnell as Eugene, a Paradorian. *Steve Samono as Neets, small creatures that resemble a mouse and a rabbit at the same time. *Gary Hall as Boppie, a Paradorian. *David K. Thompson as Bob, a Paradorian. *Craig Kellman as Creature #1. *Daniel Ross as Creature #2. *Dawnn Lewis as Canna, a Paradorian. *Frank Welker as the carnivorous plant. Additional voices *Ava Acres *Carlos Alazraqui *Lori Alan *Amy McNeill *Bob Bergen *Jim Cummings *John Cygan *Bill Farmer *Jess Harnell *John Kassir *Danny Mann *Kari Wahlgren *Mona Marshall *Laraine Newman *Tom F. Warner *Willow Samono *Grey DeLisle *Fred Tatasciore *Jan Rabson *Sadie Samono *Tara Strong *James Kevin Ward *Andrew Hall Production Development The idea of Paradoria was originally conceived by Steve Samono in 2008. The inspiration for the idea came from Samono's childhood, when he—as a child—drew several pictures of a boy and a princess in love on an adventure while lost in a fantasy world and trying to get back home. He also revisited the video games Ico (2001) and Another World (1991) having the pivotal inspirations for the project. Shortly thereafter, Samono wrote a treatment and pitched it to Michael Wildshill, who was just finishing directing Woo La La. Wildshill shortly became interested in the project so he agreed to work on it with Samono. In March 2011, Universal Pictures and Gingo Animation announced the film, as appropriately joked as the Untitled Michael Wildshill Project, which is not a sequel to Woo La La. A release date was not set at that time. In December 2012, Universal and Gingo announced that it would be titled Paradoria, with Wildshill and Samono directing from the screenplay by Samono, John Hamburg and Laurie Craig. The name "Paradoria" comes from a genus of tachinid flies in the family Tachinidae. In May 2013, it was announced that Wildshill had stepped down as director, leaving Samono as the film's sole director but Wildshill still remained as a co-director. Wildshill explained that, between his position as President of Gingo Animation, he could not commit to directing the film. By August 2013, Gary Hall was announced as co-director. During 2013 CinemaCon for Universal's slate of upcoming animated films from Gingo Animation and Illumination Entertainment, protagonist Jamo's last name was given as "Toulouse" (named after the capital of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the region of Occitanie), but that name was not retained in the final film. Writing Coming soon! Casting In December 2013, it was announced that Finn Wolfhard, AnnaSophia Robb, Rob Riggle, Bryan Cranston, Jenny Slate, and Maya Rudolph had joined the cast of the film. Patrick Stewart, Wendie Malick, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong were added to the film's cast in August 2014. Animation Coming soon! Music and soundtrack Mark Mothersbaugh and John Powell composed the film's score; this was Mothersbaugh's fifth collaboration with Gingo Animation and Powell's first collaboration with Gingo since BJ and Wally in 2006. The official soundtrack for the film was released on March 6, 2015 by Back Lot Music. Release In December 2012, Universal Pictures announced that it would be releasing Paradoria in early 2015, and hinted that it might be the March 6, 2015 release window previously announced by the studio in October 2012 for a then-untitled Gingo Animation film. In January 2013, Universal confirmed that it would be releasing the film on March 6, 2015. In September 2013, Universal moved the film's release date to December 19, 2014, the release date that was originally slated for Illumination Entertainment's Minions. The release date change was also the day that Universal changed the release date of Gingo's The Planetokio Movie, from November 2014 to December 2015. Minions was later released on July 10, 2015. By April 2014, it was announced that Paradoria was pushed back to its original release date of March 6, 2015, due to a scheduling conflict. The film premiered on February 23, 2015 at the Brussels Animation Film Festival in Belgium, in an out-of-competition screening. In the United States, it premiered on February 26, 2015 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California, and received a wide theatrical release starting on March 6, 2015 in 2D, 3D, and select IMAX 3D theatres. Also notable was the fact that it was one of two feature films (the other being The Planetokio Movie) released by Gingo in the same calendar year, a first for the company. Marketing The teaser trailer for Paradoria was released by Gingo on June 29, 2014 via YouTube and was shown in front of Gabriel Garza 2, Planes: Fire & Rescue, The Perfect Pies, The Boxtrolls, Dolphin Tale 2, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, The Book of Life, Marcus Troy: Unleashed, Big Hero 6, and Penguins of Madagascar. The first official trailer was released on November 24, 2014 and was shown in front of Annie, Into the Woods, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, and Big Eyes. The official theatrical trailer for the film was released online at Gingo's YouTube page on New Year's Eve 2014 and was shown before Strange Magic and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Universal Pictures and Gingo Animation partnered with more than 100 licensing and promotional partners in a deal valued at an unprecedented $250 million. One of the partners was Universal's parent company NBCUniversal for advertising. Spots for the film appeared on Bravo, E!, USA, Syfy, Telemundo, and mun2. A customized page was created on Fandango. Conciding with the film's release, Universal and Gingo also partnered with McDonald's to produce eight toys in their Happy Meals. A video game based on the film, titled Paradoria: Jamo & Keena's Adventure, was released on March 3, 2015 for Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, and published by Activision. Home media Paradoria was released on Blu-ray (2D and 3D) and DVD on July 7, 2015, while a digital release was released on June 16, 2015. The releases include three short films (following in Illumination Entertainment's footsteps) titled: Camp Jamo, Noodles, and Getting Annoyed. Reception Box office Paradoria grossed $311.1 million in the United States and Canada and $406.2 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $717.3 million against a budget of $103 million. Its international takings helped push Universal Pictures past $1 billion for the tenth consecutive year and aided Gingo Animation to pass the $4 billion mark for the first time since 2004. Worldwide, it is the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2015, the third-highest-grossing animated film of 2015 (behind Minions and Inside Out), the sixth-highest-grossing Gingo film, and the 25th-highest-grossing animated film of all time. It is also the fourth-highest-grossing 2015 film released by Universal Pictures behind Furious 7, Jurassic World and Minions, as well as the second-highest-grossing Universal animated film of 2015 behind Minions. Deadline.com calculated the net profit of the film to be $389.53 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film. North America In the United States and Canada, Paradoria opened across 3,541 theaters, of which 3,100 showed the film in 3D. It grossed $36.8 million during its Thursday night showings, which is the second biggest of all time for Gingo behind only Gabriel Garza 2 ($40.5 million). The film then earned $136.2 million on its opening day (including Thursday previews), making it the second biggest opening day for a Gingo film behind Gabriel Garza 2 ($142.7 million) and the biggest for an original film (now held by The Secret Life of Pets). In its opening weekend, it exceeded expectations and grossed $67.9 million, finishing first at the box office. This marks the biggest for a Gingo original film not based on sourced material (breaking Quest's record, now overtaken by Imagimals), the studio's sixth-biggest of all time (behind Computeropolis 2, Computeropolis, DCL: Desktop Component League, Gabriel Garza 2 ''and ''Imagimals), and the third biggest opening weekend for Universal Pictures. In its second weekend, the film fell by 42% to $54.7 million while maintaining the top spot, despite facing stiff competition with newcomer Cinderella. It ended its theatrical run on August 3, 2015 playing for a total of 150 days on theaters with a total gross of $311,133,101. It became the third-highest-grossing animated film of 2015 (behind Minions and Inside Out), the fifth-highest-grossing Gingo film, the fourth-highest-grossing Universal Pictures film of 2015, the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2015, the eleventh-highest-grossing Universal Pictures film, and the sixteenth-highest-grossing film of all time. Outside North America Coming soon! Critical reaction Paradoria received critical acclaim. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 97% "Certified Fresh" approval rating based on 285 reviews with a weighted average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Beautifully animated, touching, and light-hearted, Paradoria is another unforgettable storytelling masterpiece that perfectly fits for Gingo standards." On Metacritic, the film has a normalized score of 87 out of 100, based on 59 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Accolades Franchise Because of its critical and commercial success, Paradoria has been turned into a franchise, becoming the third Gingo film to do so, following Computeropolis and Gabriel Garza. Sequel A sequel to the film, entitled Paradoria 2, is scheduled for release on November 8, 2019. Steve Samono will return to direct with a script written by Samono, Laurie Craig and Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. All of the main cast will also reprise their roles in the sequel, and will be joined by Zoe Saldana and Paul Giamatti, respectively. Animated series A traditionally-animated television series based on the film, titled Tales in Paradoria, debuted on March 11, 2016 on Netflix. While Finn Wolfhard and Patrick Stewart reprise their roles in the series, AnnaSophia Robb, Bryan Cranston, Jenny Slate and Maya Rudolph were replaced by Tara Strong, Fred Tatasciore, Grey Griffin, and Kari Wahlgren (both of whom also provided additional voices in the film), respectively. Television special A half-hour Christmas special based on the film, titled Paradoria Holiday, premiered on NBC on November 15, 2016. Directed by Chris Abazzi and written by Gary Hall and Erica Rivinoja, all of the main cast from the film reprised their roles in the special, with an exception of Bryan Cranston, who was replaced by Fred Tatasciore, who also voices Noalus in the Tales in Paradoria TV series. Transcripts Main To see the main transcript of the film, click here. Trailers To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here. Category:Films Category:2015 Category:2010s Category:Paradoria Category:Films directed by Steve Samono Category:Films directed by Gary Hall Category:Universal Pictures animated films Category:Gingo Animation animated films